title: Should psychoanalysis become a science?
abstract: I wish to formulate in broad outline an approach to the conceptualization of psychoanalysis that is divested from theory. This view sees the core of psychoanalysis as a humanistic practice, first and foremost guided by the individuality of the dyadic encounter, rather than as a science. I will not argue for any particular view of psychoanalysis. Instead I marshal a series of considerations from the humanities, to frame a conceptualization of psychoanalysis as a clinically based interpretive discipline having a unique mission. Finally, I will present a futuristic hypothetical scenario whose aim is to show why psychoanalysis will remain a viable enterprise basically as conceived by Freud.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine,Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY 10028, USA.
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Appelbaum
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D011572:Psychoanalysis / Q000266:history*; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory